Like hopeless, strung-out junkies, one legislator after another babbled contradictions. Some couldn't help themselves from making the case against criminalizing possession of the new stimulant known as "bath salts." In the end, though, as they always do, they got totally whacked mainlining obedience to law enforcement.

So, as a result of the Legislature's unanimous vote — tacked onto September 27's one-day special session on congressional reapportionment — a first-timer now can face a year in jail and, for a second possession offense, five years in prison. Only a few months ago bath salts were a legal head-shop staple. It's still legal in about 20 states.

Leading the attack in this new front of the 40-year-old Great Patriotic War on Drugs were Republican Governor Paul LePage, Democratic representative Seth Berry, and, of course, cops and prosecutors. The bill, LD 1589, toughened a law passed in June that made first-time possession only a civil offense, with a $350 fine.

Outlawed are eight compounds with names like "3, 4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)." Snorted, smoked, injected, the powder reportedly bestows a euphoric high like cocaine or methamphetamine. But its bad trips are said to be very nasty — for some, to the point of full-blown psychosis after prolonged use.

A political bad trip was provided by the inconsistencies echoing under the State House dome:

• THE EPIDEMIC The word "epidemic" was often heard in the debate, which featured many scary stories. For example, Senator Debra Plowman, the Republican assistant majority leader from Hampden, claimed 50 to 60 women in the Penobscot County Jail were involved with bath salts. (On October 2, the jail held only 22 women in total. Sheriff Glenn Ross said four had been involved with bath salts.)

And in the whole state, Penobscot is the only county where charges have been filed involving the drug since it became illegal: 21 charges, 16 of them civil violations for possession.

Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia said there's no field test, and hospitals test for just one compound. So how much confirmed use is there in Bangor? "I don't have an answer," he replied in an interview. Federal health officials say bath salts often are taken with other drugs, and users tend to have mental illness. Authorities have difficulty discerning what behavior is a product of bath salts. But some druggies tell Gastia's officers they're using it, he said.

Stories of bath salts users running around naked, vandalizing property, or calling police because they fantasized people were out to kill them, however, have been a refrain in daily newspapers across the state.

"There's a tendency for a media frenzy," Representative Berry, from Bowdoin, admitted at the bill's Criminal Justice Committee hearing, as he added fuel to the frenzy.

• WORST OF THE WORST "Our society will not exist" if the drug's use is allowed to continue, declared the bill's lead sponsor, Republican representative Douglas Damon, of Bangor, at the hearing.

"These substances are possibly the worst drug Maine or the US has ever seen," testified Berry, referring to its effects, which he said included "agitation, uncontrolled movements, insomnia, bizarre and vivid hallucinations, severe paranoia, acts of violence to self and/or others, muscle loss, and elevated risk of stroke, heart attack, and organ failure."

LePage interested in corporate prisons In the gubernatorial campaign the controversial Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit prison operator, spent $25,000 on behalf of Republican candidate Paul LePage, now the governor-elect.

From carpenter to king In the wake of last month's election, I expected Republican governor-elect Paul LePage to provide me with an inexhaustible supply of column material.

In a perfect world: Ranked-choice voting My unbiased analysis of the 2010 Maine gubernatorial election reveals that most voters didn't want any of the candidates to win. The proof? A sizable majority voted against each of them.

Blue city in a red state Maine changed last Tuesday. By a slim margin, citizens voted to send Tea Party-backed Paul LePage to the Blaine House next year.

Know what you're doing Any idiot can be governor. I'm not saying Republican Governor-elect Paul LePage is such an idiot. But if it turns out he is, it's comforting to know that it won't make much difference.

Addicted to distraction I have just finished conducting extensive scientific experiments that required me to wear a white lab coat, to order my deformed assistant to dig up corpses from fresh graves, and to combine common household chemicals in plastic soda bottles. The results of my tests are indisputable.

Photos: MassCann's 2010 Freedom Rally MassCann, our state's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, hosts the 2010 Freedom Rally at Boston Common on September 18, 2010.

SUBVERSIVE SUMMER | June 18, 2014 Prisons, pot festivals, and Orgonon: Here are some different views of summertime Maine — seen through my personal political lens.

LEFT-RIGHT CONVERGENCE - REALLY? | June 06, 2014 “Unstoppable: A Gathering on Left-Right Convergence,” sponsored by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, featured 26 prominent liberal and conservative leaders discussing issues on which they shared positions. One was the minimum wage.

STATE OF POLARIZATION | April 30, 2014 As the campaign season begins, leading the charge on one side is a rural- and northern-Maine-based Trickle-Down Tea Party governor who sees government’s chief role as helping the rich (which he says indirectly helps working people), while he vetoes every bill in sight directly helping the poor and the struggling middle class, including Medicaid expansion, the issue that most occupied the Legislature this year and last.

MICHAEL JAMES SENT BACK TO PRISON | April 16, 2014 The hearing’s topic was whether James’s “antisocial personality disorder” was enough of a mental disease to keep him from being sent to prison.